Well, it's a start

We give both Oregon schools a lot of grief, hereabouts... from their continual inflow of Nike money that still hasn't bought a national championship, to the reminders that the Beavers are the otherOTHER OSU, to the uniforms from hell... You'd never know my wife was from there.

But, I will give credit to the state of Oregon, who are considering a version of the "Rooney Rule" for any future head coaching hires.

It was originally aimed at football coaches, but a House committee expanded it to include all sports as well as athletic directors, Greenlick said.

It would require universities to interview at least one minority in each hiring process. The state's Board of Higher Education would enforce the legislation, but the bill specifies no penalties.

The bill easily passed the House. Should it be approved by the Senate and signed by the governor, Oregon would become the first state with such a requirement.

Good timing, too... we've talked about this before, and have even implied that there may be other ways to levy pressure at the national level. Seems that there's at least some investigation into the foundational purpose of College Sports which may help impact this discussion. A report from the Congressional Budget Office implies,

I-A athletic departments get 60% to 80% of their revenue from activities that can be described as commercial.

CBO director Douglas Elmendorf, left, writes: "The high share of commercial revenue for some sports programs raises the questions of whether those programs have become side businesses for schools and, if they have, whether the same preferential tax preferences should apply to them as to schools in general."

With all the discussion about a playoff and monopolies and such, it may be an interesting summer in the world of higher education and sports.